Cabbies go cashless

London, and it seems that to get around these days, you don't need any cash.

Well actually you do, to charge up your Oysters and all that, but a London cab driver is trialling Barclay's Pingit app for the next week.

It allows the fare on the meter to be transferred between bank accounts within 30 seconds.

Mr Cable, who has been a London black cab driver for 23 years, told the Independent: “I am always up for trying new technology to help make mine and my passengers' lives easier.”

He's Mr Future basically, as he was also the first cabbie to accept chip and pin cards in 2004.

“It means I have more time on the road to earn money - rather than stopping off at the bank to pay in my earnings or pulling up at ATMs for passengers with the risk of getting a hefty parking fine," he added.

Of course, you can still probably get away with doing a runner if you're that way inclined, but we'd never advise readers to do anything like that.

A man named Darren Foulds, the director of Barclays Mobile and Pingit, said: “We are always keen to support new ways to make people’s lives easier. This trial really demonstrates the huge potential for mobile payments as they gain more widespread use.”

The app will use QR codes (SEE? THERE IS A USE FOR THEM AFTER ALL) and can access any bank account when cash is needed for their fare.

Uber, meanwhile...

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Jolyon B.

Should make the tax man happy as well knowing that it all appears on a bank statement now as opposed to to cash under the mattress.
"Didn't pick up a fare all day guv'nor - honest"